"Fall" for canada

We took a trip to Vancouver area last week and it presented quite an opportunity to photograph all the right fall colors wet with the seasonal drizzle. Click on the image below to view the eminent ones:

Green Chicken

Are you a vegetarian? My answer is - yes, but I eat chicken. And then I would go ahead and give my justification. It almost sounds like a status quo to be a vegetarian. You know, if I cannot eat anything that a chicken can, it is like being a vegetarian. I am not disturbing the food chain in any way. My silly friends do not buy into this argument though.

So I started thinking what would make the chicken stand at the same level as the vegetation. What if it started to breath in carbon dioxide and exhaled oxygen out. Would it be as green as "the greens"? And a premium chicken could even do photosynthesis, you know converting sunshine into protein - totally organic. Do you agree?

The weekend buffet

It has started to warm up a little. We decided to have an early lunch buffet last saturday. The place was fairly empty, only about half a dozen tables were occupied. It was easy to observe around while having a little chit chat with my company.

There was a big party sitting on our left side. One person was too peculiar to miss in there. He only had a bowl of sambhar (an indian curry cooked with no intent of having a particular taste) in front of him and he was gulping one spoon after another in quick succession. There was no synergy among that group being on the same lunch table. Every other minute one person would get up and go fill up the plate with bunch of buffet items, come back and indulge.

There was a family of three on the table at 2 O' clock from me waiting for their food to be served. The man was looking down and fiddling with his blackberry. The lady was staring at other cars outside the window on the right. The little kid was keeping himself entertained by looking at other kids. I think it would have not made any difference if they had taken three separate tables.

There was a single person sitting right in front of me with very thick glasses and a nerdy look. His mango lassi (an indian milkshake) was on the table, but other orders were yet to come. He was sipping it very slowly making sure that it is still half full when the food arrives. After all a little sip in between does taste good.

We were done in about an hour and I walked to the cash register to ask for the check. The person standing behind the register asked - Two weekend buffet? I said yes.

Apt #8

So we took the plunge and decided to move after our third year in this apartment. The current space had started to look busy and worse the trips to the laundry room was getting more frequent. It is hard not just because of all the pain to pack everything up and move, but also when you stay in a place long enough, it starts to speak like a home.

I had got used to so many things inside the apartment and outside too. I know exactly how fast I need to push the front door to lock it up, I know how many steps it is to the laundry room (120 one way, 108 another), I would know if it is the garbage truck outside or the UPS. The water fountain quiets itself at 11, reminding that the today will turn into yesterday soon. The tree in front of the dining window sheds all its leaves right after winter, then it goes green-orange-red with the spinning weather. The foot-bridge in front of the other building always has dry leaves floating on it and I thought it will make a good subject to snap, but never tried it. There are two potholes on the last street before I get home and I always take pride in doing a little swerve around them while riding my bike. If driving my car, I will always find someone attempting to parallel park on vincent for few minutes before abandoning the futile idea. We have taken several walks in the summer to the starbucks on washington. It was just close enough to go there on a a sunday afternoon and sip a lazy vanilla latte.

The apartment manager drives a red open jeep and will almost always give a smile, though as cold as the chilly rain these days. The family of three (2, if you don't want to count the cat) next door is nice, the lady in there taught us the right way to hand over a small baby to another person. It should feel like a rain drop falling in your lap, so slow and so quiet that you don't even feel it. The lady below us is old and mysterious. We don't know when she goes out and when is she in. She never complains of our noise or anything. The unit besides her has seen at least three different families (while we were here) and it is available again.

This apartment also witnessed several of our firsts - first sold a car, my first motorcycle, first we painted our walls, first big TV, our first baby :), our first separate bathrooms, our first set of tasteful furniture and many more. Needless to say, we will miss this place as our first "home" together.

Ultrablue

..cause' blue is the stormy sky
so blue is the eternal ocean
blue like the sweet pain
blue only scribes my pen

Although,

blue that I wear today
blue will I turn at last
the promise of life anyway,
is the mysterious cold blue..

(just supporting my favorite color, can you?)

Memento - Part 3

There is no way, I am going to deliver now; I am not mentally prepared - my wife said. Don't worry, I said with calm, portraying a strong heart - if it has to be, then we cannot do much. But ma is not here yet, she said. We will handle it until then, it is our baby after all - I said with no idea what that meant.

Your blood pressure is on the higher side, our substitute doctor made the announcement stepping inside the exam room. It has been normal until now. Yes, but it is quite common in the last month – said the doctor. So, what’s the deal? I would like to keep her under observation for a day and check for the protein leak, she kept saying in an unmodulated voice. And, if it is indeed leaking, then we will have to get the baby delivered now. What? Are you crazy? The due date is still three weeks from now, we don't even have any help here right now and I have to be in the office today, all went through my mind in less than a second. But I kept my cool and asked if we can go back home and get few stuff in case we have to stay longer. I don't want to regret if something goes wrong, so I wont recommend going back home, you will have to get admitted now. And baby is completely mature in 37 week, so you shouldn't be worried about that too. My wife looked at me as if telling - you know that there is no way I am delivering now.

OK, 37th week, friday, routine checkup, very typical. I will drop you back home and go to the office after we are done there - I said as I used to on every other checkup. As usual I also carried my office bag with me, so that I don't have to go back up at home. Our doctor was on vacation for few days, so we were going to see another one in the same group. The nurse took the vitals and we waited for this new doctor, didn't have a zilch of idea that we will see four new doctors in next four days.

Were you guys prepared? You know - mentally? I have faced this question quite a few times. Well I didn't know, if I was. Nine months now and I know I was ready indeed - to play with him, to smile on his smile and to walk him until he sleeps, holding my shirt tight with his little feeble fist.

The End.

Memento - Part 2

All of a sudden, the monitor showing the heart beat rate spiked and our nurse came rushing in. What happened here? - She asked. No, nothing, she is just talking to her mom - I said with a casual smile. My wife was speaking over the phone - Ma, everything is fine. It wasn’t. I knew she was just too weak after a terrifying night and loosing probably quarter of her blood. I started talking to the nurse - you saved our lives and she smiled genuinely. I was finally relived that it was all under control. It was a minor surgery and bleeding stopped. Why the heck the previous doctor let it all go on for the whole night and didn’t decide to do the same thing earlier. Well, every doctor work differently, the old nurse mentioned it to me. And lucky(un) us that we had to deal with this particular one, I thought in disbelief. Although, it was a first good morning that I could say – we are a family of three.

Early in the morning, the shift changed and a very old looking nurse took the rein. First thing she looked at my wife’s situation and said this is not normal. You bet it is not, I thought. She rushed back and got another doctor on duty at that time. The new doctor told me that my wife needs to go through a minor surgery and hopefully it will be all good. I saw light at the end of this tunnel and said - please.

After couple of hours, I got the baby back from the nursery for my wife to take a first good look at him, but she didn’t care. I wasn’t surprised; she hardly had any consciousness left after the whole ordeal. She was also consistently loosing her blood and the nurse in that shift kept me assuring that it will stop on its own. Gosh, an unseasoned nurse and a confused looking doctor are the worst possible combination to have your baby delivered. Mujhe achcha nahi lag raha hai, chalo ghar chalte hain (I am not feeling well, could we go home) - she said and turned to the other side with any energy she was left with. I took the baby back to the nursery and told them that I am not picking him up until next morning.

The first hour of the 31st march, our baby was born. Bahut chhota sa hai (It is really tiny) - thats all I could say, held my wife's hand and burst into tears. It was really small, but way too cute, crying intermittently, as if annoyed by his disturbed sleep. By the time the nurse cleaned him up and wrapped in a blanket, he was opening his eyes and looking up towards me. One of the five (or may be six) nurses in the room put him on the scale and announced - 5 pounds and 6 ounces.

To be continued..

Memento - Part 1

Time flies by. He is in his ninth month already. We noticed a single tooth breaking out from his lower gum line. I tried to take a snap of it, but he would simply not open his mouth thinking that I am trying to feed him when he is not hungry. Finally, my wife captured it one day along with his most photogenic expression.

I can already see that things are evaporating from my memory, little things that he did in his first few months and how we have been adjusting to the presence of another human being in our home. He had decided to move in with us three weeks earlier than we expected. Thinking of it now, it almost feels like an impromptu drama that we enacted together.

We had came back from the hospital after spending four days in there and what a relief. There is a good reason it is called home. It was exactly the same as we left it on friday, but a very strange feeling. A stuffy smell, days old plates in the kitchen sink, the half filled tea cup, covered, that my wife wanted to have after she was back from the checkup. We both took a deep breadth and started planning our next week, before her parents will get here.

So, what do you guys think - our doctor asked us without looking up, while scribbling on her pad, standing right outside our rat hole. It was our third day in the hospital. Scanning through my wife's eyes and then looking at the doctor I said, if it helps to stay for another day here, then we would like to. Hospital is not for healthy people you know - the doctor spoke with the same synthetic smile on her face, that we were used to for past nine months. Healthy? You know that she has got three blood infusions in last two days, from which angle does she look healthy to you – I was screaming in my mind. Finally, the doctor decided to keep us in the hospital for one more day.

To be continued..